I did a lot of research about picking schools for children before moving to Christchurch, New Zealand, like many other parents.

I have a one-and-a-half-year Master’s student visa and am allowed to bring my partner and children. My spouse gets an open work visa, and my children are eligible for student visas that could be classified as domestic students. It means that my spouse can work in New Zealand and that my children can attend free public schools. Work visa is similar. You may read another article on Sabrinablog to learn more about medical care in NZ for those visa holders.

What are the best elementary schools in Christchurch?

It all depends on your background and what you value. Some educational systems, in my opinion, treat pupils like products and evaluate them using just one criterion. All children, in my view, have strengths and weaknesses and should be encouraged to develop their interests and strengths. The schooling in Christchurch, New Zealand, seemed to satisfy my needs. I think the system here is more truly education-oriented than in some countries.

After that, you have several options for choosing which elementary schools to attend:

1. Using a Decile Rating.

The Decile Rating is a metric used by the New Zealand government to determine which school zones should get funding and how much they should receive. The zone’s household income is considered indirectly. You may imagine that the government would provide significant financial help to the schools of substantially impoverished households. They are rated on a scale of 1 to 10. The lower the ratings, the higher the level of support, and vice versa. When it comes to selecting schools for their children, different parents may have different points of view.

I am concerned about my children’s classmates. Their values and behaviours will undoubtedly have an impact on my children if they grow up together. In general, better families may be more interested in their children’s education and may want to foster good characteristics. When renting or purchasing a property, you may locate these details on Trademe. The information is often shown at the bottom of the page, as seen below:

I should clarify that if you pick a Decile Rating higher than 7, you are normally required to make a donation to schools each semester. Each school has its own payment amount; some allow family donations in which you only pay once for your two or three children. Donation information is available on the websites of schools.

2. Locate elementary schools by address.

Education Counts is the name of the website. You may look for schools by living address or the school name. Then choose the sorts of schools and authorities. There are three options for authorities:’state’, ‘state: integrated,’ and ‘private’. Only the ‘state’ is free of charge if you are the visa holders that I mentioned above.

The image below shows which schools are located inside zones. The left column shows information in text, while the right column is a map that shows which schools are available. The letters ‘P’ represent a primary school, ‘P&S’ is for primary and secondary school and ‘S’ is for secondary school. If your kid is young and you don’t want to switch schools often, ‘P&S’ is an option. This school includes students from Year 1 through Year 8. Some schools even include classes from Year 1 to Year 15.

3. ERO (Education Review Office).

If you click ‘Review reports,’ ERO will provide a search box. You might, for example, type ‘Ilam school’. Then, select ‘View report and Institution information,’ and you’ll be able to see the whole school report. In my opinion, one crucial evaluation for a school is the frequency of government review. The longer duration indicates that the school meets the government’s criteria and that there is no need to alter it as often. Its most recent evaluation, like that of the Ilam school, was in 2022, and its last report was in 2017. You may also learn about the school’s strengths and areas for improvement from the report.

The ethnic makeup of the pupils is also included in this report. The table above shows the percentage of local students as well as students from other cultures.

Finally, you may combine all of the methods to make a more thorough selection. The ultimate choice is your dwelling address, which you cannot decide until you rent or purchase a property in Christchurch.